In 2021, former Kansas City Police officer Eric DeValkenaere was convicted of killing Cameron Lamb, an unarmed Black man who was sitting in his own pickup in his own driveway. DeValkenaere is appealing his conviction, and in an extraordinarily unusual development, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has joined the case to urge an appeals court to overturn the conviction. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker is now arguing in court that the conviction should be upheld.

To discuss the case, host Brian Ellison spoke with University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor Sean O’Brien, who was once the chief public defender in Kansas City and has run legal defense clinics for decades about where the idea came from that a governor should be able to pardon people convicted of crimes.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Brian Ellison. It is produced by Paris Norvell, Byron Love and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

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